Standard Lemma guide

ugliness

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AH1 G L IY0 N AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The condition of being ugly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Everything that's realistic has some sort of ugliness in it. Even a flower is ugly when it wilts, a bird when it seeks its prey, the ocean when it becomes violent. Sharon Tate

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An unsightly or frightful object.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Unpleasant behaviour.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • There was some ugliness at the council meeting.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

qualities of appearance that do not give pleasure to the senses

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: beauty

Broader terms: appearance, visual aspect

Narrower terms: unsightliness, grotesqueness, grotesquery, grotesquerie, garishness, gaudiness, unpleasingness, hideousness, unattractiveness, eyesore

5

noun

Meaning 5

the quality of being wicked

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nefariousness, wickedness, vileness

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: evil, evilness

Narrower terms: filthiness, enormity

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English ugly Proto-Germanic *-in- Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2ti Proto-Germanic *-ōną Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English ugliness From ugly + -ness.

Across languages

Translations

41 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: feúra — condition of being ugly
  • Bulgarian: грозота (grozota) — condition of being ugly
  • Catalan: lletgesa — condition of being ugly
  • Catalan: lletjor — condition of being ugly
  • Czech: ošklivost — condition of being ugly
  • Danish: grimhed — condition of being ugly
  • Dutch: lelijkheid — condition of being ugly
  • Esperanto: malbeleco — condition of being ugly
  • Finnish: rumuus — condition of being ugly
  • French: laideur — condition of being ugly
  • Galician: fealdade — condition of being ugly
  • German: Hässlichkeit — condition of being ugly
  • Hungarian: csúnyaság — condition of being ugly
  • Irish: gráinneacht — condition of being ugly
  • Italian: bruttezza — condition of being ugly
  • Japanese: 醜 (shū) — condition of being ugly
  • Korean: 추함 (chuham) — condition of being ugly
  • Central Kurdish: ناشرینی (naşrînî) — condition of being ugly
  • Latin: dēfōrmitās — condition of being ugly
  • Latin: turpitūdō — condition of being ugly
  • Latvian: neglītums — condition of being ugly
  • Macedonian: грдост (grdost) — condition of being ugly
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: ẽatidade — condition of being ugly
  • Persian: زشتی — condition of being ugly
  • Persian: قبح — condition of being ugly
  • Polish: brzydota — condition of being ugly
  • Portuguese: feiura — condition of being ugly
  • Portuguese: fealdade — condition of being ugly
  • Russian: уро́дство (uródstvo) — condition of being ugly
  • Spanish: fealdad — condition of being ugly
  • Spanish: feúra — condition of being ugly
  • Swedish: fulhet — condition of being ugly
  • Tamil: அசிங்கம் (aciṅkam) — condition of being ugly
  • Turkish: çirkinlik — condition of being ugly
  • Welsh: hagrwch — condition of being ugly
  • Welsh: hyllter — condition of being ugly
  • Bulgarian: грозотия (grozotija) — unsightly or frightful object
  • Esperanto: malbelaĵo — unsightly or frightful object
  • Finnish: kauhistus — unsightly or frightful object
  • Macedonian: грдотија (grdotija) — unsightly or frightful object
  • Polish: brzydota — unsightly or frightful object